The Effect of Irradiated Ergosterol on the Thrombocytes and the Coagulation of the Blood

I T has of course been known since the work of Zizzozero and Wooldridge that the thrombocytes are a definite factor in aiding coagula-tion and with their increase it has been shown by Duke1 that the coagulation time of the blood is diminished. Gunn2 with the ultra-violet light pro-duced an increase of thrombocytes in rabbits. "The increase varied from 40%-100 % of the original normal but always amounted to at least twice that of the normal variation in the animal/' It occurred to us in considering this latter work that this action might be due to the vitamin D affected on the body surface by the irradiation. Since